Student reactions to the new University meal plan structure were mixed yesterday, with some students expressing enthusiasm for the increased flexibility of the plans and others saying they felt the changes did not go far enough.
Dining Services released the structure of the 2002-2003 school year meal plans Tuesday, along with a host of planned changes to the atmosphere, quality and service of campus dining.
The minimum number of meals per week freshmen must purchase will be lowered from 14 to nine, and all students will have more options for purchasing fewer dining hall meals per week or per year. Most of the new plans, however, come bundled with more dining dollars -- which can be used at dining halls or University retail venues -- than this year's plans do.
Many students were pleased with the decreased number of dining hall meals and the increased number of dining dollars on some plans. On-campus retail operations like Houston Hall are seen by some as providing better food and more convenience.
"I would like [more dining dollars] better," Engineering freshman Abimbola Okeowo said. It would "give me a chance to go to Houston Hall more... it's open hours the dining hall is not open."
College sophomore Chris Padilla put it more simply.
"The less meals, the better," Padilla said. "The more dining dollars, the better."
But other students are not clamoring to sign up for a meal plan that will allow them to eat at Houston Hall more often.
"I'm not buying the meal plan at all," College freshman Jesse Salazar said. At Houston Hall, where Salazar said he has worked previously, "they use the same ingredients [as at the dining halls]... they charge you more for the same stuff."
College freshman Eli Schlam's view of the new system is mixed -- he said he likes the idea of more flexibility but sees a major structural flaw in the Dining Services system.
"Dining dollars give you more options and more choices," Schlam said. But "I'm kind of against the whole all-you-can-eat concept."
Schlam explained that one student can swipe his or her PennCard and eat only a bagel, while another can go for "a six-course dinner," yet there would be no difference in what the students are charged.
Some students said that the new meal plan system is much better than the plan Dining Services announced last spring and ultimately changed. At that time, officials announced that incoming freshmen would be required to buy 17 meals per week and upperclassmen would no longer be able to purchase certain small declining meal plans.
The move was extremely unpopular, spurring protests and boycotts, and Dining Services ultimately decreased the number of required meals per week for freshmen to 14.
"I think it's definitely an improvement over what they did last year," College senior Mariel Focseneanu said. "I have so many friends who totally dropped their meal plans this year."
But Engineering senior Ryan Stovall said he feels the University should not require students to purchase meal plans at all.
"I do think that requiring any amount of meals is bad business practice," Stovall said, comparing mandatory meal plan sign-up to McDonald's requiring patrons to purchase a certain number of meals per week from the fast food restaurant. "I think the whole thing kind of stinks."
And College freshman Tom Hayden said he is upset that prices for next year's meal plans will be higher than for this year's.
"I think it's pretty crappy that they're making prices go up, since it's already overpriced," Hayden said. "I don't really mind much if the quality goes up, but I'm not convinced that it will."
Prices will rise by different amounts depending on the meal plan. For example, next year's 14-meal-per-week plan is selling for $170 more than this year's, but next year's comes with 100 dining dollars.
Some prices will rise much more than the added dining dollars can account for, though. Next year's 10-meal-per-week plan, which includes 150 dining dollars, will cost $464 more than this year's, which does not come with any dining dollars.
